A super hot package for a film is headed to the Cannes Film Festival.
It is the second Cannes-bounded project starring Lupita Nyong’o announced in the past 24 hours.
355 is described by Deadline as a “large-scale espionage film” with Simon Kinberg directing a stellar cast of who’s who: Nyon’go, Jessica Chastain, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz and Fan Bingbing. They’ll play “international agents in a grounded, edgy action thriller that aims to alter a male-dominated genre with a true female ensemble, in the style of spy franchises The Bourne Identity, Mission: Impossible and James Bond.”
With a script written by Theresa Rebeck, the hope is that the film will launch a franchise.
The five actresses and Kinberg will be at Cannes to sell the film. The idea for the film was Chastain’s, who pitched to Kinberg, who directed X-Men: The Dark Phoenix in his feature directorial debut, which she will also star in. She later got a commitment to the project from him and the four actresses.
Chastain told Deadline: “I had so much fun working on The Help that I always wanted to do another female ensemble film. I love the Bourne movies, the Mission: Impossible films, and wondered why, except for Charlie’s Angels, there hadn’t been a true female ensemble action-thriller spy film. That got my wheels going, along with the idea of casting actresses from all over the world to truly make it an international project. I realized the incredible creative freedom we would have with that. I brought the idea to Simon, told him about the actresses I was thinking of, and he was so sweet. He said, ‘I want to do it with you. Then I called all the women, told them what I was envisioning and that I wanted it to be a collaborative process, and how we would all create this together. The one thing that felt important is that we all show up at Cannes, because that would be the beginning of our journey together. Every single actress I called said yes on the phone call. They committed to Cannes and to everything. So far it has been a very wonderfully easy process.”
“It won’t be as hyperbolic as some franchises, and unlike the other films that revolve around one main character, the goal here is the true ensemble, all these characters who have their own distinct traits, histories — fully formed and complex characters with equal weight in the film. That’s unique, as is having all female spies. We are digging into the reality of spy craft today. There are all kinds of things that seem out of a James Bond or even a sci-fi movie, but the technology is so advanced that it’s real. Having someone who knows that reality informing the script has been really helpful,” said Kinberg.
You can read more from Chastain and Kinberg about the film, its backstory and plans over at Deadline.
